Every once in a while we come across a product that we love so much we need to mention it here. Kiehl's Mom & Baby Moisturizing Cream is one of those things. I bought it to use as a face cream this winter, because I needed an additional layer of moisture to stay hydrated in the cold, dry weather. Then as I spent more time at the doughnut shop and the number of times a day I washed my hands increased dramatically, I found that it went a long way towards healing the resulting dry, chapped skin. Recently Alex got a couple of new tattoos to commemorate our new location and he used it on them to moisturize the skin beneath. It worked like a charm and he says that he's never had tattoos heal so quickly. Amaya refuses to touch it because she's not a baby anymore, but two out of three of us love it.

There's a certain type of customer who takes our prices personally. We can see them coming. They walk by and eye the doughnuts. Then they check out our price. Then they walk away, looking offended. Then they come back and look again. Then they walk up to the counter and say some variation of "Are your doughnuts really three dollars EACH?

When we politely inform them that yes, they really are three dollars each, you can almost see them swelling up with the force of their righteous indignation. "How on earth can you justify that price?" We politely inform them that these are the best doughnuts they will ever taste. Once they try them, they will understand. At which point they generally shake their heads in disbelief and storm off, muttering to themselves about the price of our doughnuts. Sometimes they will go through the checkout line and circle back around on their way out, loudly exclaiming that those doughnuts are outrageously over-priced. It can be a little bit disheartening.

But every once in a while we convince one of these people to try the doughnuts. Or one of their friends insists on buying them a doughnut, and then we see grace. Some of our biggest detractors have turned into our most loyal customers and that is an amazing thing. It's a great reminder that we need to be patient, we all have our price barriers. As more people try the doughnuts, they share the love, and more people come to see what all the fuss is about.

This is an older Ted talk. Amaya and I watched it together. Birke Baehr, an 11 year old aspiring organic farmer, explains how to make good food choices. We agreed with everything he said. Sadly, we still have all the same issues as we did in 2010, but the system is changing and we have a much wider range of better choices today. Kid by kid we are making a difference.

Today was opening day of Curiosity Doughnuts and I fried all day long. I have the short shift because I get Amaya off to school and am back at home to meet the bus, so I'm there from 9:30-3:30, give or take. I arrived and started frying immediately. didn't stop until it was almost three. By then we were down to apple cider debris and that was gone in about twenty minutes. We were that busy. Also, we can only fry one dozen at a time, so that means I was playing catch up all day long. People can buy doughnuts way faster than I can fry them. This is mostly a good thing.

Customers were coming in from the parking lot and telling us that people leaving the store told them they had to come and get doughnuts. That was pretty cool. Aside from the all too often heard "$3 doughnuts!!! Are you serious?" we had a lot of positive feedback. People bought one doughnut to taste and then came back for more. Do we have a lot of work to do? Yes. Are we tired? Yes. Alex is still there prepping for tomorrow. Totally looking for some good staff, but until we can find them, we're making do with the amazing staff we've got. Surrounding ourselves with the right people makes all the difference.

Opening a second location feels a little bit surreal. Being an independent vendor in a this huge store is very cool. The WF team, led by Alan Morgan, has been amazing. They have gone above and beyond to help us make CD2 happen. The colaboration came together in a fast and furious way, a few months from conversation to reality. But that's what we do. Life is about making magic happen. Tomorrow Whole Foods Market Spring House opens it's doors and so does the second location of Curiosity Doughnuts. See you in the morning.

So these made me stop and take notice. Look at those cute, smiling animals on kabobs. There's something about the fact that they are threaded on sticks that makes them a little more graphic than your average Peeps. It seems like kind of a mixed message. Amaya and her friends discuss the ethics of eating meat on a regular basis. For the record, they all eat meat, some more than others, but they are having the conversation. I think that a good thing. Even in the third grade, it's important to make informed decisions. Still, I can only imagine the kind of reaction I'd get if I pulled these babies out at Easter. Half the kids would gleefully devour them and the other half would squeal and run in the other direction. How do you feel about animal kabobs?

Growing up I ate more than my fair share of Italian takeout. There were a couple of different places in the neighborhood that we got food from, depending on whether we were picking up or getting delivery. They all had their specialties. Lilian's was the closest. We always got their special pizza or heroes from there. It was only a block away, but the downside was that we had to walk over and pick up the food. A&J's was the other place we got pizza from. They delivered but it did take longer for the pizza to arrive. They had our favorite cheese pizza and a veggie special that was cheese-less and loaded with roasted vegetables. Mike's was who we called for pasta dishes. They had a great antipasto salad, baked ziti, baked ziti siciliano (with fried eggplant), stuffed shells and lasagna. It's funny to think that all these dishes had basically the same ingredients in different compositions. One night when my friend Jackie was over for dinner, we ordered from Mike's, and I discovered that you could get spaghetti and meatballs parmigiano, with a layer of mozzarella cheese melted over the top and it rocked my world. Wasn't everything better with a layer of melted cheese on top?

Fast forward many years and not much has changed, except I make the pasta dinner myself instead of having it delivered. We always have fresh mozzarella, ricotta, and Rao's in the house. It makes a last minute comfort food meal easy. Almost any type of pasta will do, although Alex prefers the short noodles in these types of preparations. Once your pasta is cooked, it comes together in a flash. Warm the sauce in the pan and add the al dente pasta and some cooking water. Mix well, dollop with ricotta cheese and layer on the mozzarella. Stick the whole thing under the broiler while you make the salad and you've got dinner. Skillet pasta and salad makes everyone happy--as long as we don't have it every night...

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